Door suspension, especially for trucks and trailers



ATTORNEY Fe b.- 16,` 1954 E; T. RIDGWAY DOOR SSPENION, ESPECIALLY FORTRUCKS AND` TRAILERS Filed Nov. 19, 1947 m n m i i i l I I l,

Patented Feb. 16, 1954 DOOR SU SIENSION,y ESPECIALLY FOR TRUCKS ANDTRAILERS Edmund'` T. Ridgway, Oaklyn, N.. J., assigner to.

The. Budd; Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corfporation of PennsylvaniaApplication November 19, 1947', Serial N0. 7 86,892'

7 Claims.

The invention refers to a door suspension and especially to a doorsuspension for a vehicle body. More particularly, the invention refersto the suspension of doors of automobile trailers, trucks and the like.

Among the objects ofthe invention isl a door suspension ofthe indicatedYtype and a hinge construction. for such' suspension which afford a iirmconnection between the door and the supporting Wall, which connection iscontinuous alongv one margin of the door but is considerably lighter andless expensive than the known continuous door' suspensions using theso-called piano hinges.

The aforesaid objects of the invention are achieved mainly by a door'suspension having a piano-type hinge between adjoining vertical marginsof door frame and door, which hinge extends over the major portion ofthe length of such margins and is characterized by leaves of relativelylight strength or gauge in the middle portion of the length of the hingeand' of considerably heavier strength or gauge in the end regions. Thestrong end portions of' the leaves', consequently, are arranged in theregions where the hinge has to sustain by far the greatest stresses,whereas the light middle portions of the leaves maintain the continuityof the hinge, aord a continuous seal along the hinged margins, insureproper alignment of wall' and door over their entire height, and retainthe ease of. installation of piano-type hinges as compared withsuspensions employing a number of separate hinges.

The above-outlined and other objects, advantages and features of theinvention will be more fully and more easily understood from theembodiment illustrated in the attached drawing and describedhereinafter.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a diagrammatic small-scale side elevation of the body of afreight trailer:

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the door of the vtrailer body shown inFigure 1 on a somewhat larger scale;

Figures 3 and 4 are fragmentary rsections through the door andthefadjoining trailer Walls along lines 3-3 and 4-4 of Figuresy 1 and 2on a still larger scale;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary end elevation of thehinge side of the doorshown in Figure 2 on about the scale of Figures 3 and 4;

Figure 6 is a section through the end portions of the hingesubstantially along lines 16-6 of Figure 5; and

Figure 7 is a section through the middle portionrof the hinge along,line J-I .fof Figure :5.

The illustrated trailer bodyfhas aside Wall I'O surrounding a dooropeningclosed by a door I IL. The door opening'is defined by aframe-have ing a threshold I2, aheader I3, ra lock rail I4; and aZ hingerail I5. These-members, together with thel corrugated sheet metal`panell'ing I6, roof supporting rail I1, theroof I-B, further verticalposts (not shown), and the floor structure I9, may form aself-supporting unit not requiring a separate chassis frame; The lposts1'4- and I5 are formed for holding the adjoining margins of inner panels2B consisting of plywood or` the like. The hinge post I5 is composed ofa chan'- nel section 2l and an angle section 22; which overlap eachother by arms extending transversely to the plane of the sidewall,thereby affording a double-thickness jgambportion for the attachment ofthe hinge to be described later on. A

Along its top, bottom, and lock margins, .the door II has Z-sectionrails 23'v which, by their outwardly directed arms 24, formy a dooroverlap and are overlappingly secured',` preferably by electric spotwelding, tothe outer sheet metal covering 25, 25. The covering 25 is,corrugated, whereas the Vsmall cover'portions 26 are smooth for theattachment of the lock. mechanism, which is not shown. The hinge y rail2 1' is of channel section and has its outer wall 28' overlappinglysecured tothe outer cover 2,5'. The rails 23' and 21 are reinforced bychannel sections 2,8jinserted between and secured to the rinner arms, orwalls 30 of said rails and the outer cover,25., 26. n The door may befurther reinforced by a vertical Z-section 3| and covered by ,an innerlpanel 2U'. All or most ofthe members entering .into the body and doorconstruction may consist iofhighftensile sheet metaL'preierably coldrolled austenitic stainless steel, which are connected ,with each otherby electric spot welding. I y

The door II is swingably lsupported on .post I5 of the side wall by apiano-type hinge 3 21extending over practically the entire height of thevdoor and door opening. This hinge hasa pintle or pivot pin 33extending'uninterruptedly over the entire length of the hinge andpassing through the rolled-inv portionsv of the leaves k34, 35 and 36,31.

While an ordinary piano hinge has one pair of leaves with uniform crosssection over `the p entire length of the hinge, the, illustrated hingethe ymiddle pair. Thestrengthgfthe end perftions 34, 35 of the leaves issuch as to adapt them for sustaining all or at least the major portionof the stresses to be transmitted from the door to the wall when thedoor is open. The important function of the middle portions 36, 3l ofthe leaves is to hold door and wallinappropriate alignment so that, forinstance, the door and side wall may not buckle in different directionsand thereby bring their planes out of alignment with consequentunsightly .appearance of the body.

A further function of the middle portions 36', 31 of the hinge is toafford'av continuous seal between door and door post along the'hingemargin. Also, the new type hinge retains the great advantage of allpiano-type hinges, that is, no alignment difficulties have to be takencare of, as is the case with a plurality of separate hinges requiringcare of adjustment to insure coaxial arrangement of their pintles.

The pintle is slightly longer than the aggregate length of the leaves.The end leaves 34 and 3?: are movable along the pintle 33 and areslightly spaced from the central leaves St, 3l with the result that thedistance between the end leaves may be accurately adjusted during theattachment of the hinge. The ends of the pintle should be riveted overso as to hold the leaves together before their attachment and so as toprevent the pintle from falling out.

The outer or attachment surfaces of the end leaves and of the centralleaves are arranged in planes having the same distance from the axis ofthe pintle so that these surfaces may be brought into the planes of theattachment surfaces of door rail and door post. rfhis coplanararrangement of the attachment surfaces of the hinge leaves is achievedby the outward offsetting of the central hinge leaves as shown in Figure7.

The leaves 35 and 31 are provided with holes 33 and 39.

The leaves 34 and 3S are secured to the door, beforethe insertion of thedoor into the wall, by electric spot welding or other appropriatemethods. This connection is preferably made in such a manner that anaccurate predetermined distance between holes 3B in the end leaves 34 isobtained. An assembly jig may be employed for this purpose. Inaccuraciesof the length of the hinge or its component" parts are adjusted bysliding the end leaves on the pintle as explained hereinbefore. v l

Prior to the securement of the (hinge, and of the door to the door postl5, the latter is *provided in its jamb face with holes corresponding innumber and arrangement to the holes`38, 39 in the hinge leaves. Thecorresponding holes in the end leaves 35 and in the post l5 are punchedor drilled accurately to the size of connecting bolts 4G or the like;these holes in the post are tapped, if screw bolts are used.

rIhe holes 39 in the middle leaf 31 may be somewhat oversized and theattachment screws entering into the correspondingly arranged holes inthe post I may be self-tapping. inasmuch as the central hinge portiondoes not sustain substantial stresses a close fit between the connectingmeans and the holes 39 of the central hinge leaf is not required. On theother hand, the provision of oversized holes greatly facilitates theassembly and^automatically takes care of manufacturing inaccuracies.

The new hinge lends itself to the economical manufacture of differentlength hinges. vOne standard form and size of `end `leaves may be `11Sdin Combinat'o''with" pintles andy middle 4 leaves cut to lengthscorresponding to different desired lengths of hinges. It is also easy tomake a shorter hinge of an .available hinge by merely shortening themiddle leaves and the pintle.

The new suspension is particularly adapted for doors swingable about anupright axis, that is, for door suspensions which have to sustain greatstresses which .are largely concentrated at the ends of the marginshinged together.

While only one embodiment of the invention is illustrated and shown, itshould be understood that the invention is liable to modifications andadaptations. It is obvious, for instance, that the light gauge middleportions and the heavy gauge end portions of the hinge might be formedintegrally with each other. With such modications and adaptations inview, which will easily occur to those skilled in the art, protection issought for the invention as covered by the spirit and the language ofthe attached claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle body having a body wall sur-V rounding a door openingand a door in said opening, a hinge connecting said door along one ofits sides to said wall swingably about an upright axis, extendingcontinuously over the major portion of the height of said door, andhaving a pintle and hinge leaves substantially coextensive with thepintles length, said leaves having end portions, near the top and thebottom, respectively, of said door and door opening, of greaterthickness than the thickness of the hinge portion interconnecting saidend portions.

2. In .a vehicle body having a door frame and a door therein, acontinuous hinge connecting adjoining upright margins of said frame anddoor with each other and extending over the greater part of the lengthof such margins, said hinge having three pairs of hinge leaves arrangedseriatim and interconnected by a single pintle, two of said pairs ofleaves being of short length, of heavy gauge material and arranged oneat each end of the hinge, the third pair of leaves being arrangedAbetween the other two pairs, extending over the major portion of thelength of hinge and being of lighter gauge material than said two pairsof hinge leaves .at the ends.

3. A hinge of the piano hinge type having three pairs of leaves arrangedin series on a single pintle, the greater portion of the length of thehinge being formed by the middle pair ofrleaves made of lighter gaugematerial than the end pairs of leaves which latter extend .over minorportions only of the length of the hinge. v

4. A hinge of the piano hinge type having three pairs of leaves arrangedin series on a common pintle, the end pairs of leaves being of thicker'material than the middle pair of leaves, at least one of the end pairsof leaves being slidable on the pintle so as to allow adjustmentalongthe ieth of the pintle.

5. An elongated narrow hinge having leaves, each with end portions ofheavy gauge material and a middle portion of lighter gauge material, thelighter gauge leaf portion being offset so that the attachment surfacesof these leaf portions are coplanar with the attachmenty surfaces oftheheavy gauge end portions. 4

6. Method of securing a doorA in al door frame by means of an elongatedhinge of the type having three pairs ofleaves arranged in seriesA on acommon .pintle',r the :end ypairs of leaves-'being of thicker materialthan the middle pair of leaves and at least one of the end pairs ofleaves being slidable on the pintle, the method comprising the step ofproviding holes in an accurate pattern in the one set of said leavesarranged on the one side of the pintle, the step of providing one ofsaid door and said frame with an identical pattern of holes, the step ofsecuring by welding the set of said hinge leaves arranged on the otherside of the pintle to the other one of said frame and door While holdingthe leaves so that the holes in them follow accurately said pattern, andthe nal step of securing the first-named leaves by means passing throughthe holes in such leaves and the said holes in one of said door andframe.

7. In a method according to claim 6, the step of making the holes in oneof the leaves of each end pair and the corresponding holes in one ofsaid door and frame exactly to the size of the connecting means passingthrough them to insure effective stress transmission, and the step ofmaking the holes in one of the middle leaves larger than the connectingmeans thereby permitting adjustment of small dimensional inaccuracies.

EDMUND T. RIDGWAY.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberNumber Name Date Whitehead Feb. 24, 1903 Conners Nov. 18, 1913 BakerJan. 21, 1930 Toncray July 7, 1931 Hall June 6, 1933 Solomon Jan. 14,1936 Van Uum et al Apr. 21, 1936 Hansen July, 21, 1936 Boettcher Nov.19, 1940 Fuller Apr. 17, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great BritainMar. 22, 1928 Great Britain Mar. 1, 1929 Germany Sept. 26, 1938

